The uproar over U of L's Board of Trustees replacement by Governor Bevin resulted in the University of Louisville being placed on probation by accrediting agency SACS, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. A letter released this week cited the replacement of the Board as an unacceptable political interference in the work of an institution of higher education.

U of L has a year to straighten out the mess to get off probation. If it cannot, the Cards face loss of accreditation. A school that loses accreditation loses access to federal funding and federal student loan programs. It also loses its spot in the NCAA. It is understatement to note that loss of accreditation is a draconian punishment.

When war first broke out between the Governor, U of L university officials and Kentucky's Attorney General Andy Beshear, action by SACS had not yet been taken.

But that action was not unforeseen. As the parties hardened their positions, the Attorney General warned Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Shepherd, in whose lap the case fell, that the threat of loss of accreditation existed. With the letter from SACS, that threat is now a reality.

The Kentucky General Assembly stepped into the fray this month with a bill filed by Senate President Robert Stivers, II on January 7th.The bill has been sent to the Senate State and Local Government Committee, chaired by Senator Joe Bowen of Owensboro. Senator Stan Humphries, whose district includes Murray State University serves as vice chair.

Senate Bill 107, as written, will throw the boards of UK, the regional universities and community and technical colleges into the same dilemma facing U of L.

The bill amends a series of statutes relating to higher education governance. Paragraph 3 gives a governor the power to remove individual board members. There is individual due process, providing that a board member to be removed is given notice of the removal and the reason for the removal. That could be unacceptable to SACS.

It is the provision in Paragraph 4 that should send higher ed managers running to their legal counsel, their legislators and their lobbyists. As written, that paragraph gives a governor the power to abolish a board if it cannot play well together.

Paragraph 4 says:

(4) For a board or council specified in subsection (2) of this section, the Governor may, by executive order, remove all appointed members of the board or council and replace the entire appointed membership upon a written finding of fact by the Governor that the board or council is no longer functioning according to its statutory mandate as specified in the enabling statutes applicable to each board or council.

Paragraph 8 lays out what not playing well together means:

(8) The inability of the board to hold regular meetings, to elect a chairperson, to establish a quorum, or to reach consensus among its members in order to carry out its primary function to develop and adopt policies and administrative regulations by which the Department of Education shall be governed, or to otherwise perform its duties under KRS 156.070 shall be cause for the Governor to remove all appointed members of the board and replace the entire appointed membership pursuant to subsection (4) of Section 1 of this Act.

This appears to be the U of L case codified. Any board may not be able to establish a quorum at every meeting or elect a chairperson immediately. The bill gives no timeline on how long a board may have to comply. It is unclear whether all of the triggers must take place or if one, such as failure to elect a chairperson, is enough to trigger dissolution by executive order. When reasonable minds may differ, the answer is a trip to the courthouse.

As a first draft, SB 107 is a warning shot to state higher education leaders that Republican leaders are fully ready to place a political thumb on the scales. The judgment of whether a "board or council is no longer functioning according to its statutory mandate" appears to rest with the political masters.

Surely the effects of SB 107 is what SACS addressed when it told University of Louisville to get politics out of its governance.

For a link to the bill's history, follow "More" below. Click on SB 107 for the full text.